BYE BYE DONNY
Donny's office. Later that afternoon.
[DONNY is sitting at his desk, looking over papers. DAPHNE appears
in the doorway. Knocks lightly on the doorframe. DONNY looks up]
DAPHNE: Hello.
DONNY:[Seeing her, taking on a sarcastic tone] Well, now. You look
vaguely familiar. Mmmmnnnn, Daphne, isn't it?
DAPHNE: Donny. May I come in?
DONNY: Sure. Here, sit down. [Ushers her to a chair] So. How are you?
DAPHNE: All right. Donny, I . . .
DONNY: You know, I seem to remember that we had an appointment,
no, actually, a date with each other last week. It was . . .
let me think . . .oh, yeah, of course, to get married!
DAPHNE: Oh, God, Donny, I came here to explain . . .
DONNY: OK. Explain. Explain why you ran off with a respected client
of mine. A man I swore to the court that there was indeed no
"alienation of affection" in his divorce case.
DAPHNE: Oh, dear . . . Donny, there wasn't then! At least, not
on my part. This only came about recently . . .
DONNY: Daphne, just tell me, what the HELL HAPPENED?
DAPHNE: Please, just give me a chance! [He softens] Donny,
I had every intention of marrying you. You are a very dear man and
I really thought we'd be very happy together. I really did love you.
[Swallows hard] Only, after we got engaged, I found out that . . .
Niles was in love with me. And had been for years. I know Roz
talked to you, she must have told you all this . . .
DONNY: Yes, but she didn't know all the details. She didn't know
how you came to, well, change your mind. About Niles. And about us.
DAPHNE: [Composing herself] After I learned how he felt, I was very
confused. It took some deep thought, and real soul-searching.
I realized that, well, without my being really aware of it . . .
I felt the same way about him. Donny, this isn't about not caring
about you. It's about there being something much stronger . . .
with Niles.
DONNY:[Hesitantly] And . . . it's still there?
DAPHNE: Yes. Very much so. And getting more so by the day. I'm sorry.
[Lowers her head]
DONNY:[Getting up, crossing to her, leaning on the desk in front of
her chair] Well. I can't say that the best man won. And I can't say
there are no hard feelings. [She looks up at him, he looks very somber]
But I can say that I hope you will be happy.
DAPHNE:[Solemn, getting up] Thank you. You really are a dear man.
DONNY: See you around?
DAPHNE: I hope so. I really do. [She exits. He sits down, opens a file,
closes it, and sighs]
END EPISODE